Sword Art Online : Disconnect
by GureNeko
Summary: OC Insert. With no recollection of anything aside from the name she had in Sword Art Online, Spring, the virtual world held answers for her chained memories and thus, it became her quest to uncover the truths behind herself. Why was the name Kayaba Akihiko significant. Who was the one that issued her the mission that she was entrusted to carry out in this game of death.
1. Chapter 1

**Moshi-Moshi! GureNeko reporting in after probably about, 6-7 months worth of hiatus! I figured it was time to return back to my hobby of writing fanfics (It's an excuse, I just ran out of Steam Games to play, Summer Sale!) and well, it was hard to continue what I had stopped for too long. RIP all my other SAO fanfics.**

 **So instead, here's a new one dubbed 'Disconnect'**

 **But, its an OC insert story! Well, I guess it's not wrong to expect the normal OC harem or KiritoxOC pairing or the OC is op hero thing but I want to prove that this story will differ from those themes. At least I hope they would!**

 **Anyways, if you didn't want to listen to the rant, the story is just below! Get a comfy seat (or standing), read and if you have the time, reviewing is a good way to improve on my writing!**

 **Once again, GureNeko, signing out!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 :**

The crowd around her was dressed in cheerfully bright colors that did not fit with the tense atmosphere, created by the sinister scarlet sky that bathed the central plaza in dark red. The confused mutterings of the gathered soon halted as a gigantic red-robed figure materialized in the sky. It opened its arms in welcome, heralding the 10,000 players who were now part of its world.

"My name, is Kayaba Akihiko ..."

The rest of the cloak's speech was drowned out by the darkness in her mind that threatened to swallow her consciousness. In her head, the name 'Kayaba Akihiko' repeated endlessly like a broken record running rampant and her eyes saw. Not the shock and fear that slowly engulfed the faces of those who realised they had been kidnapped into a virtual world but instead, she saw a blurry image of a room. The white walls and lack of household furniture gave it a desolate feeling. The only object that stood out in the foggy picture was a bed, snow white like the rest of the room and the blaring orange sunlight of the setting dawn. Somewhere in this delusion, a sharp set of beeping noises echoed noisily and then, a low-tone voice, speaking as if in slow-motion.

"Remember your mission."

Reality forced its way through literally as startling sounds such as the breaking of glass and hopeless screams pierced through her senses. Before she could recover her bearings, the people around her had all but lost all semblance of logic and order as they began panicking like a mob chased by a riot squad, some rooting themselves to the ground, lost and confused while others ran and in the mess of human traffic, she found herself knocked down. Holding out her hands by reflex, they came into contact with the sharp fragments that lay scattered like caltrops. Wincing at the pain, her eyes glared at the destroyed mirror that had harmed her and looking inside the cracked reflection, she saw herself before the pieces burst into tiny blue polygons.

Lustrous shoulder-length black hair, high cheekbones, long eyelashes and a perfectly symmetrical face. She could have been considered pretty if not for the pair of dead gray eyes that have dissuaded many from approaching. But her appearance was not what concerned her, it was the creeping, sinking feeling again in the back of her head as it fell back into abyss. She was being disconnected from the world around her yet again. The image quality did not improve but the scene was different. A depressingly dark room with dirty brown walls, the only light source being a faint glimmer from what was probably a covered window. There seemed to be furniture this time but the blurriness of this world made it hard to discern what they actually were. However, she could be sure that this was a filthy place, resembling that of a slum. A shadow passed through the small light for a moment and as she focused whatever senses she had, it became clear. It was a gnarly, ancient looking hand, covered in scars and sickly skin, reaching out towards her.

"Oi Miss, you alright?"

A light shake to her shoulders woke her up and after her vision readjusted, she was looking up at a young man, probably in his early twenties from the small signs of a beard on his cheeks and chin. His most redeeming features were probably the hooked nose as well as the bright red bandana that tied up his spiky red hair in place above his forehead.

"Klein, follow me."

A voice from the crowd called out to the man that was helping her. Klein, if that was his name, turned his head towards where the voice had come from.

"Wait, Kirito! Damnit."

He muttered the last word as he watched the black-haired youth disappear towards one of the alleyways out of the plaza.

"Miss, can you follow me? I'll get someone to look at that soon."

He gestured briefly with one of his hands at her own which had several tiny red streaks left behind by the cruel fragments. Being somewhat forcefully pulled to her feet, she found herself led off by Klein who followed after the person that called out to him. The incessant buzz of the frightened crowd melted away as they covered more distance till finally, near the end of the alleyway which opened up to the empty streets of the town, the black-haired boy stood there, leaning against the wall, arms crossed as he tapped his foot impatiently.

Pointing to Klein's companion, he asked, "Who is she?"

"She's injured so I was hoping to find someone to heal her."

"I think I told you before that you can't get permanent injuries in this world."

The black-haired boy sighs, covering his eyes with a hand before approaching Klein.

"More importantly, you understand what this all means right?"

"We're stuck here until we finish this game?"

"That's right. While the fields are still empty, we can head over to the nearest village for a couple of quests. There's a good sword there that can ..."

He was interrupted mid-way by Klein who held up a hand for pause. Seeing that he got the boy's attention, he posed his question.

"By we, that includes you and me right?"

Klein gestured to emphasize his point in which he received a nod for confirmation. He proceeds to sigh, scratching the back of his head before reluctantly continuing, "That's not possible ... Sorry, Kirito."

Seeing confusion from his counterpart, Klein elaborated further. "Back there," he pointed his thumb over his shoulder, back to where the plaza and the mob was "I have friends who bought the game with me. I have to be there for them you know."

"I ... see."

Watching the lonely back of his newly made friend, Klein mentally berated himself before going to pat the boy's shoulder with a goofy smile on his face.

"Well, at least I brought someone to go with you. I'm sure both of you won't mind ... right?"

There was a stiff atmosphere between the boy and the girl. She did not have a good impression of him already with his cold-condescending attitude but in her lost and confused state, the logical choice would be to accept some guidance.

"It's fine. Thank you, Klein-san."

"Sorry again Miss. I haven't got your name have I?"

For some unknown reason, despite her turbulent mental state, she somehow knew what her name was.

"Spring."

"Spring-chan then. I'll leave you with Kirito then. See you, Kirito, Spring."

Waving his goodbyes as he left, he gave a wink and cheeky grin to Spring as he turned back towards the plaza. The tense atmosphere grew suffocating as both Kirito and Spring stared at each other, both unable to proceed on with the next step of conversation. They instead, examined each other closely. For Spring, she noticed that throughout the entire time she had seen him, the same gaunt expression was pasted on his face. Reinforced by his messy black hair and black eyes, it gave him an unfriendly yet solitary look. Eventually with a forced sigh, Kirito turns his back, ending their stareout and heading towards the gates that led out to the 1st Floor of the world.

"Let's go."

* * *

 **This is the usual rant zone where I put my thoughts after writing the chapter. You can skip it if you don't want to read a mess of thoughts and worries.**

 **Alright so the OC is a girl named Spring. Male harem? Hmmmm? (I think Kirito's female harem was enough)**

 **Where's the character development, bad story! (Give me time to write more chapters please, Sad face )**

 **Ain't this just canon, where's the fun stuff? (Every story needs an intro!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A new chapter, more reveals and more character development (hopefully)**

 **Firstly, thanks for still following my writings (if you're reading this) and I hope you'll enjoy what's coming up!**

 **Writing an OC has been pretty fun as i rarely write those myself but sometimes its quite hard to fill in a completely blank template to create something as awesome as Kirito, Asuna or the latter (Konno Yukki!)**

 **So here's to another chapter! Get comfy, read and if you have the time, review!**

 **P.s This is one part of a whole chapter which was actually supposed to be released. But no worries, the next chapter is already half-written. This is just the bit that's ready!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 :**

The virtual reality game which was now a battle between life and death, that was Sword Art Online. The only way to escape was to finish this nightmare was through the 100 floors that stood in the way of freedom. Spring pieced together that conclusion with help from Kirito who gave her the essential points of Kayaba Akihiko's speech. The very mention of the name made it echo noisily in her mind, as if trying to put significance on that man yet, what was so important about the crazed creator of this cage, she could not figure that out.

"Got a moment?"

Kirito's words brought her out of her brooding and seeing that he had got her attention, he pointed to a shadow on the horizon. With the setting virtual sun behind its back, a four-legged beast prowled the grasslands ahead of the pair. On closer inspection, it resembled a boar because of its tusks and snout but the sinister red glint in its eyes made the creature more fearsome than what you would normally meet in real life.

"Do you know how to fight?"

Receiving a shake of her head as a reply, it confirms his suspicion as he had not seen a weapon on her when they were having their staring contest earlier.

"Open your menu and go to your status. Pick a weapon skill with one of your two skill slots."

Noticing that she hadn't move at all, he goes to swipe his left hand against the air, bringing down his own menu. She mirrored his movement not long after and began searching her menu. A feeling of regret welled up in him as he watched his newbie partner work her way through the various options but a crushing guilt dissipated that negative emotion. After all, he had abandoned Klein in his quest to quickly get stronger to survive this world. Improving Spring's chances of survival was the least he could do at this point.

A minute later, Spring had finished her setup and on her belt, a small sheath materialized after a momentary glow of blue. The size of it told Kirito that she had picked the one-handed dagger skill which allowed for quick attacks at the cost of a lack of defense. He himself had the one-handed sword skill while slower than a dagger, had longer reach and situational defensive options. Reaching behind and drawing his [Small Sword] from its scabbard, he gave it a few practice swings before stepping into the reaction range of the [Frenzy Boar]. A normally peaceful mob, it registered the weapon in Kirito's hand and began pawing its front hoof against the ground, lowering its head to angle its own sharp weapons forward.

"Watch and learn."

Calmly facing the monster, Kirito held his sword before him, half-crouched in a battle stance to quickly react to his opponent's moves. There was only one move for the [Frenzy Boar], a blind charge with the attention of skewering the human that dared raise a weapon against it. It pounced off the ground, squealing its battle-cry as it sped towards its target. A second before it could collide with its victim, Kirito had taken a step back out of its rush and it pulled back, trying to slow itself down but the [Frenzy Boar] halted instantly, collapsing onto the ground as a quick strike from Kirito's sword onto its weakpoint, the back of its head, stunned it momentarily. Taking a few quick steps to Spring, he gestured her forward to finish it off.

"Your turn."

The [Frenzy Boar] recovered from its concussion and it turned towards the new target in its aggression radius, Spring. With visible white mist puffing out from its snout, it prepared to charge again, digging its hooves further into the ground in anger. Strangely, despite being faced with such an angry mound of data that could spell the end of her life, there was no fear. She was confident in her own ability to take on the [Frenzy Boar]. Watching the eyes of her enemy closely, she noticed the glint in them as it shot off towards her. The world slowed down considerably as her mind focused fully on the problem ahead. As Kirito expected, she managed to avoid the tusks just like he did and he gave a small approving nod. She was a fast learner as he had discerned from his impression of her earlier.

What he did not expect was her missing the follow-up strike with her dagger as it cleaved the empty air where the [Frenzy Boar] once was. He attributed that to nervousness at first but after two more similar attempts of dodging and failing to connect her own attacks, he noticed an important detail. Her hand-eye coordination faltered quickly. In particular, her movements were slower than what her mind was processing and Kirito got that right. Spring herself was confused as the scenario she had memorized and played out in her head continuously failed. It was exactly as Kirito had done yet her body was unable to follow through.

The [Frenzy Boar] repeated its coding for the 4th time and charged forward. Looking down at her own dagger, she switches her grip on it, going to holding the blade. Bending her body back, her mental eye estimated the distance and once it was close enough, her body and arm shot forward in a linear motion, releasing the dagger which was now a spinning wheel of dazzling sunlight before it impaled itself right between the eyes of the [Frenzy Boar]. It's legs lost strength as it stumbled forward, rolling slightly before fizzling like a television with a poor signal before popping into a shower of polygons, the death signal of any entity in Sword Art Online.

"Impressive."

The throw was near flawless and what's more interesting was that she did it without the system assist via the [Throwing] skill. While mildly awed by her natural talent, he had to admit that such a mechanical skill was useless in the lower levels from his own experience.

* * *

 **November 6th, Sunday. Aincrad Standard Time 19:00**

Horunka Village, a small sleepy collection of houses and shops located inside a forest and while it may be empty of players right now, the area would be a prime spot for hunting due to the facilities available that supplied an adventurers every need. Weapons, armour, tools and an inn, it was the perfect first area for grinding early levels and money. At least, only after you had trained sufficiently in the easier fields surrounding the 1st floor.

"Still coming along?"

Kirito asked his companion who shadowed him but he was greeted in silence as Spring examined the village before her, ignoring him. They had already discussed this earlier but Spring still remained stubborn on the matter. Horunka was inhabited by monsters more dangerous than the [Frenzy Boars] that she met along the way and unlike the peaceful pigs, the forest spawned creatures who attacked without hesitation.

"It's dangerous. If you're coming, you must listen to everything I say."

Same response. He had hoped to prod her silent pride but he had already done so earlier without success. Realising that there was no way to pry her off him, he continued forward with her tailing his back.

"As I said, you're not going to learn much else from me."

"My chances of survival are still better with you."

Another guy might have mistaken the intention behind the words and feel bliss that he was trusted by a girl but the male in question this time was Kirito who had seen her rather dour personality thus far to be certain that there was no hidden meaning behind her words. What she said was what she believed to be truth. Having been defeated in his few verbal debates with her, he says nothing more and enters one of the shops in the village.

Wasting no time, he engages in a quick conversation with the elderly shopkeeper who manned the shop, selling the materials he had gotten from hunting and then picking out two relatively expensive brown, leather half coats, passing one into Spring's arms before briskly walking out of the shop. Kirito's remaining budget was used in the next shop they entered, filling both his and Spring's belt with healing potions and antidotes.

"The new armour will keep you alive. Use those potions and make sure your HP never drops below half."

He made it a point to cover every single detail that will be necessary to ensure that they remained safe the entire time. Antidotes were to be used immediately when poisoned, potions were to make sure that colour of HP always stayed green and never reach yellow. Spring was to act as an aggro magnet without doing any actual fighting, leaving that to Kirito to be in the fray of danger. Their opponents were disgusting plant monsters known as [Little Nepent] and don't be fooled by the name. These 'little' slithering bundle of vines was nearly as tall as any other human with an oversized mouth that resembled a pitcher which consumed their prey whole whenever it could find them.

"This is a surprise. You're actually good at taking care of people."

If he never understood her, he would have assumed that this was sarcasm and so the sudden compliment took him by surprise. Only slightly embarrassed, Kirito scratches the back of his head, searching his mind for a suitable counter.

"And you're not as ... slow as I thought."

Having learnt to expect no rebuttal or comment, Kirito proceeded deeper into the village to a house that was secluded further inside and without knocking, he enters the home of the NPC. She was labeled as the [Village Missus], looking like an older woman aged around 40 with graying hair. The Missus stood at the far end of the living hall which they entered in, stirring a pot of a shimmering fire but upon their arrival, she turns to face her visitors, greeting them with a warm smile.

"Good evening travelers. You must be tired but I can offer food as I have naught but a cup of water for you."

"That would be fine."

Kirito replies, stepping into the house and taking a seat at the table situated in the centre. He gestures for Spring whose gaze was locked onto the kitchen where the smell of fresh food wafted over to do the same.

"Its part of the quest. I'll explain later."

"How do you know so much about this world?"

Spring asks the question that had been occupying her mind for awhile. Kirito seemed to have extensive knowledge of everything thus far which included the combat patterns of the monsters, the route to the village, what items to buy and even where the quests are. He raises an eyebrow at her, looking slightly confused before elaborating.

"I'm sure you've heard the news of the beta? I was lucky to be a part of it so I know what is there up till the 8th floor."

If its a beta of a virtual reality game, it should have been pretty big news but for Spring, it was all a big blank in her memory. The explanation was however enough to satisfy her curiosity surrounding Kirito and in the midst of their conversation, the Missus had returned to their table, placing an ancient looking wooden cup on the table. Without any hesitation, he gulped its contents and returned to observing the NPC. From one of the rooms in the house, a soft, hacking cough belonging to that of a child could be heard and on cue, a golden question mark popped up above the Missus' head.

"Is something troubling you?"

The NPC turned slowly from her work at the kitchen, the question mark on her head blinking constantly to signal his acceptance of the quest.

"Actually, travelers, my daughter has caught a severe illness and ..."

Once again, the feeling of being plugged out of reality returned thanks to a new trigger. Her mind disconnected from the virtual reality and reconnected to her delusions. There was no image this time, just a plain dark void but from within the black mass, there was a crackling voice, as if playing from an ancient radio.

"Leave ... "

"Oi Spring, you okay?"

A clear voice with a tinge of annoyance, it belonged to her partner who shook her shoulder lightly.

"I was just thinking."

"Geez, slow as ever aren't you."

* * *

 **Rant zone, danger beyond!**

 **I keep feeling like I'm missing out something here hmmmm ... [shrug]**

 **The character development still feels weak ... (sad face) or maybe its just me**


End file.
